28 From among the Israelites take your brother Aaron and his sons with him, that he may minister to Me in the priest’s office, even Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron’s sons.
2 And you shall make for Aaron your brother sacred garments [appointed official dress set apart for special holy services] for honor and for beauty.
3 Tell all who are expert, whom I have endowed with skill and good judgment, that they shall make Aaron’s garments to sanctify him for My priesthood.
4 They shall make these garments: a breastplate, an ephod [a distinctive vestment to which the breastplate was to be attached], a robe, long and sleeved tunic of checkerwork, a turban, and a sash or band. They shall make sacred garments for Aaron your brother and his sons to minister to Me in the priest’s office.
5 They shall receive [from the people] and use gold, and blue, purple, and scarlet [stuff], and fine linen.
6 And they shall make the ephod of gold, of blue, purple, and scarlet [stuff], and fine twined linen, skillfully woven and worked.
7 It shall have two shoulder straps to join the two [back and front] edges, that it may be held together.
8 The skillfully woven girding band which is on the ephod shall be made of the same, of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet [stuff], and fine twined linen.
9 And you shall take two onyx or beryl stones and engrave on them the names of the twelve sons of Israel;
10 Six of their names on one stone and the six names of the rest on the other stone, arranged in order of their birth.
11 With the work of a stone engraver, like the engravings of a signet, you shall engrave the two stones according to the names of the sons of Israel. You shall have them set in sockets or rosettes of gold.
12 And you shall put the two stones upon the [two] shoulder straps of the ephod [of the high priest] as memorial stones for Israel; and Aaron shall bear their names upon his two shoulders as a memorial before the Lord.
13 And you shall make sockets or rosettes of gold for settings,
14 And two chains of pure gold, like cords shall you twist them, and fasten the corded chains to the settings.
15 You shall make a breastplate of judgment, in skilled work; like the workmanship of the ephod shall you make it, of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet [stuff], and of fine twined linen.
16 The breastplate shall be square and doubled; a span [nine inches] shall be its length and a span shall be its breadth.
17 You shall set in it four rows of stones: a sardius, a topaz, and a carbuncle shall be the first row;
18 The second row an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond [so called at that time];
19 The third row a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst;
20 And the fourth row a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper; they shall be set in gold filigree.
21 And the stones shall be twelve, according to the names of the sons of Israel, like the engravings of a signet, each with its name for the twelve tribes.
22 You shall make for the breastplate chains of pure gold twisted like cords.
23 You shall make on the breastplate two rings of gold and put [them] on the two edges of the breastplate.
24 And you shall put the two twisted, cordlike chains of gold in the two rings which are on the edges of the breastplate.
25 The other two ends of the two twisted, cordlike chains you shall fasten in the two sockets or rosettes in front, putting them on the shoulder straps of the ephod;
26 And make two rings of gold and put them at the two ends of the breastplate on its inside edge next to the ephod.
27 Two gold rings you shall make and attach them to the lower part of the two shoulder pieces of the ephod in front, close by where they join, above the skillfully woven girdle or band of the ephod.
28 And they shall bind the breastplate by its rings to the rings of the ephod with a lace of blue, that it may be above the skillfully woven girding band of the ephod, and that the breastplate may not become loose from the ephod.
29 So Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel in the breastplate of judgment upon his heart when he goes into the Holy Place, to bring them in continual remembrance before the Lord.
30 In the breastplate of judgment you shall put the Urim and the Thummim [unspecified articles used when the high priest asked God’s counsel for all Israel]; they shall be upon Aaron’s heart when he goes in before the Lord, and Aaron shall bear the judgment (rights, judicial decisions) of the Israelites upon his heart before the Lord continually.
31 Make the robe [to be worn beneath] the ephod all of blue.
32 There shall be a hole in the center of it [to slip over the head], with a binding of woven work around the hole, like the opening in a coat of mail or a garment, that it may not fray or tear.
33 And you shall make pomegranates of blue, purple, and scarlet [stuff] around about its skirts, with gold bells between them;
34 A gold bell and a pomegranate, a gold bell and a pomegranate, round about on the skirts of the robe.
35 Aaron shall wear the robe when he ministers, and its sound shall be heard when he goes [alone] into the Holy of Holies before the Lord and when he comes out, lest he die there.
36 And you shall make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it, like the engravings of a signet, holy to the lord.(A)
37 You shall fasten it on the front of the turban with a blue cord.
38 It shall be upon Aaron’s forehead, that Aaron may take upon himself and bear [any] iniquity [connected with] the holy things which the Israelites shall give and dedicate; and it shall always be upon his forehead, that they may be accepted before the Lord [in the priest’s person].(B)
39 And you shall weave the long and sleeved tunic of checkerwork of fine linen or silk and make a turban of fine linen or silk; and you shall make a girdle, the work of the embroiderer.
40 For Aaron’s sons you shall make long and sleeved tunics and belts or sashes and caps, for glory and honor and beauty.
41 And you shall put them on Aaron your brother and his sons with him, and shall anoint them and ordain and sanctify them [set them apart for God], that they may serve Me as priests.
42 You shall make for them [white] linen trunks to cover their naked flesh, reaching from the waist to the thighs.
43 And they shall be on Aaron and his sons when they go into the Tent of Meeting or when they come near to the altar to minister in the Holy Place, lest they bring iniquity upon themselves and die; it shall be a statute forever to Aaron and to his descendants after him.
Cross references
- Exodus 28:36 : Exod. 39:30.
- Exodus 28:38 : Luke 24:44; Heb. 8:1, 2.
